


Safe Space

by RetroactiveCon



Series: Praying That It'll Be You [24]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Boundaries, Kissing, M/M, Tickling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-06
Updated: 2020-04-06
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:00:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23312020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RetroactiveCon/pseuds/RetroactiveCon
Summary: “If we do this, you’d have all the control. Just tap my shoulder and I’ll stop.”Hartley shakes off his instinct not to use the safe signal even if he wants to. Barrywantshim to say no at need, even gets worried if he doesn’t. It’s a foreign concept, but if he doesn’t try to adjust his thinking, he’ll never accustom to it. “Okay. Yes, we can try.”
Relationships: Barry Allen/Hartley Rathaway
Series: Praying That It'll Be You [24]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1562548
Comments: 9
Kudos: 62





	Safe Space

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SliceOSunshine](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SliceOSunshine/gifts).



> For SliceOSunshine, who analyzed Everything Unspoken in depth and asked both about Hartley's reluctance to say no and his unwillingness to let Barry find out what makes him feel good. The comment and analysis were phenomenal and inspirational, so here's a fic where Barry tries to explore and Hartley finally says 'no' in a sexual context.

“Hey Hart?” 

Hartley pulls back from chasing Barry’s lips. His sweet boy has the look in his eye that means he’s got an idea he’s not going to let go. The previous times this look has come up in a sexual context, they’ve both ended up perfectly happy with the ensuing game. “What is it, sweet boy?”

“Um.” Barry’s eyes flit down nervously. He’s so shy about what he wants. Hartley wishes he felt more comfortable expressing his desires—he’s the last person to judge him for them. “Remember the night when you just explored to find out what made me feel good?” 

Hartley nods. He’d happily do it again; the little helpless noises Barry made as he fell apart were intoxicating. “Do you want to do that again?”

“Yes, but…for you.” Barry’s eyes flick up to his. That explains why he’s nervous: this is the one thing he knows Hartley is likely to refuse. “I want to make you feel good.” 

Hartley debates. Barry seems to really want it, in which case he shouldn’t say no, but he’s also so sweet he probably thinks he _needs_ to reciprocate, however unwillingly and belatedly. Saying no might grant him much-needed reprieve. He settles for, “You know you don’t have to, right?”

That gets a little frown. “Hart, of the two of us, am I the one who forces himself past his boundaries all the time?”

He’s not wrong about that. “No, but you like to reciprocate, and you certainly don’t need to.”

“I want to, though.” Barry skims gentle fingertips down Hartley’s bare chest. He idly circles a nipple, explores the lines of his ribs, and lingers at the lower end of his sternum. Hartley shivers. “Do you remember how much it turned you on to explore me?”

Yes, and more than that, he remembers the feeling of intimacy that came with learning all of Barry’s reactions. At the time, that intimacy had been thoroughly enjoyable. He’s not sure it would be bearable were the scenario reversed—were his reactions being bared and charted. 

“You don’t wanna do it.” Barry’s eyes widen. “Okay, no, right, that’s okay. I just thought I’d check.” 

“I…it’s not that I don’t want to do it.” He’s not thrilled with the idea, but as he told Barry some time ago, he’ll try anything once. After all the painful, kinky things he let Thawne do to him, refusing Barry’s well-meaning offer of cuddle sex seems ridiculous. “I just don’t know what’s going to happen. I’ve never given that much thought to what feels good for me.”

“And it scares you that I might get a reaction you can’t anticipate.” Barry nuzzles closer. “If we do this, you’d have all the control. Just tap my shoulder and I’ll stop.” 

Hartley shakes off his instinct not to use the safe signal even if he wants to. Barry _wants_ him to say no at need, even gets worried if he doesn’t. It’s a foreign concept, but if he doesn’t try to adjust his thinking, he’ll never accustom to it. “Okay. Yes, we can try.” 

Barry can sense his hesitance—he’s much too sweet not to notice, no matter how Hartley tries to mask his feelings. In response, he pulls him into a deep, slow, open-mouthed kiss. Hartley so thoroughly loses himself in the easy slide of lips and tongue that he barely notices when Barry eases him onto his back. 

“I promise…” Barry trails kisses along Hartley’s jaw to the hollow behind his ear. He tilts his head, all-too-happy to give him more access to such a sensitive area. “I’ll go slow. I want you to like it.” He nibbles the shell of Hartley’s ear. Hartley’s breathing hitches, then hitches again. 

“That’s… _mmm_ …nice. Better than I thought it would be.” 

One of Barry’s hands skims up his side, starting low on his hip and ending partway up his ribcage. Against his will, he gives a hastily-stifled giggle and curls away. “You’re doing that on purpose.”

“What, tickling you?” Just to tease, Barry does it again. This time, Hartley swats at him. “I like hearing you laugh.” 

“Well then do something funny, don’t—stop, you speedy little—”

“Okay.” There’s no argument, even in play. Barry presses a soft, close-mouthed kiss to Hartley’s shoulder. It’s an apology and a check-in, and Hartley can’t help rewarding him with praise. 

“My good, sweet boy. You didn’t have to stop, I didn’t mind.” He regrets the words as soon as they're out of his mouth. They’re true in this instance—they’ve set ‘please’ as their tickling safeword, just because it’s all-too-easy to shriek ‘no’ or ‘stop’ in the midst of a tickle fight—but he knows how Barry will take them. 

“You asked me to.” Barry nuzzles the little hollow behind his ear. His words are the barest whisper so he doesn’t accidentally overwhelm Hartley’s enhanced hearing. “I know you didn’t say ‘please,’ but I’d rather stop every time you ask me than keep going when you’re not playing around anymore.” 

Hartley doesn’t know what to say to that. He settles for kissing Barry’s neck, as much to keep himself quiet as to thank his sweet boy. 

It takes several minutes of lazy kisses for Barry to start exploring again. He makes as much use of his slender, pretty hands as he does of his lips: mapping Hartley’s chest and abdomen, sliding down his thighs, pressing gently against his knees. For no reason Hartley can discern, he instinctively tries to clamp his legs shut. There’s absolutely no reason for it—he’s let Barry fuck him before. He shouldn’t be nervous. 

“Not this?” Barry glances up from lavishing kisses on Hartley’s chest. 

“No, it’s fine.” Hartley forces himself to spread his legs. He’s not some blushing virgin—having Barry between his legs shouldn’t be alarming. “I shouldn’t be nervous, it’s not like this is new.”

Barry considers. “It kind of is,” he muses. “I mean, I’ve gotten on top, and I’ve even taken my time, but my goal wasn’t just to explore then. I think you had a lot more space to be impatient and sort of regain control. This…” He presses a lingering kiss to the lowest point of Hartley’s sternum. “You don’t have that now.” 

“I’m not _that_ much of a control freak,” he scoffs. 

“You kinda are.” Barry slides his hands up Hartley’s thighs and flattens them over his hips. It does nothing to keep his legs open, or even to hold him still; it’s just a steady, grounding pressure. “But I get why, and I don’t mind. I just don’t want to push you too far.”

“I’m fine.” He runs his fingers through Barry’s messy hair. There’s nothing wrong. This is nothing Barry hasn’t seen before. 

“Okay.” Barry crawls back up to kiss his lips, deep and sweet. “Remember, if you need me to stop doing something, just tap my shoulder.”

Hartley doesn't mind having his abdomen kissed and explored. When Barry presses a sucking kiss to the inside of his thigh, however, the feeling from earlier—intimacy, but in a bad way—returns with a vengeance. Before he can stop himself, he touches his fingers to Barry’s shoulder. 

“Okay.” Barry pushes himself back up for another kiss. “Are your thighs a bad place to touch? Or does it feel too sexual and you don’t want to do sex tonight?”

Hartley recoils. That’s an option? Of course it isn’t, he corrects himself; with Barry’s accelerated metabolism, he needs to get off before bed, and he seems to prefer it when Hartley is involved. “No, it’s not that. I don’t think I like being passive when you’re between my legs. It feels...” _Like being trapped_ , he doesn't say. Barry understands anyway. 

“Which is why you’re okay when we’re roleplaying but not like this.” Barry nods. “Thank you for telling me. Will you be okay if I suck you off?” 

The idea makes the unpleasant-intimacy feeling return. He could shake it off—he usually likes having Barry suck him off, if only for the look of absolute rapture on Barry’s face when he’s permitted to do so—but he’s gotten himself into a mindset where he doubts he could enjoy it. “Um…I’d rather not. But if you want…”

“I want to make you feel safe.” Barry nuzzles his neck. “It’s okay if you don’t want to do sex things tonight. We can just cuddle and kiss.” 

Quietly, Hartley requests, “Can we do that?” He’s prepared to laugh it off if Barry seems disappointed, but he doesn’t have the chance. 

“Yeah, absolutely.” Barry curls beside him on the mattress and draws him into a tight embrace. Hartley is able to lay his head on Barry’s chest, focus on his heartbeat, and count until the anxious headspace seems distant and harmless. “And now I know for next time. I can kiss all over your torso, but not your thighs. And I will happily kiss you until you’re out of your mind with impatience, then let you flip me over and ride me until we're both exhausted.” 

The words send a hazy little pulse of arousal down his spine. He’s not up for it now, but for another day, that sounds like a plan he’d thoroughly enjoy. “I think I’d like that.”


End file.
